Outbreak of pertussis at community A in Dormaa Municipality, Ghana, August 2016
Florence Nzilanye Iddrisah, Samuel Dapaah, Meeyoung Mattie Park, Daniel Owusu-amponsah, Joseph Asamoah Frimpong, Scott JN McNabb, Ernest Kenu, Edwin Andrew Afari, Ernest Konadu Asiedu
Corresponding author: Florence Nzilanye Iddrisah, Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, Accra, Ghana, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, USA 
Received: 23 Feb 2018 - Accepted: 19 Apr 2018 - Published: 18 May 2018
Domain: Infectious diseases epidemiology,Health education,Public health
Keywords: Outbreak investigation, pertussis, Ghana
This article is published as part of the supplement African Case Studies for Public Health - Volume 2, commissioned by African Field Epidemiology Network.
©Florence Nzilanye Iddrisah et al. Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Florence Nzilanye Iddrisah et al. Outbreak of pertussis at community A in Dormaa Municipality, Ghana, August 2016. Pan African Medical Journal. 2018;30(1):15. [doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2018.30.1.15290]
Available online at: https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com//content/series/30/1/15/full
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Outbreak of pertussis at community A in Dormaa Municipality, Ghana, August 2016
Outbreak of pertussis at community A in Dormaa Municipality, Ghana, August 2016
Florence Nzilanye Iddrisah1,2,&, Samuel Dapaah1, Meeyoung Mattie Park2, Daniel Owusu-amponsah3, Joseph Asamoah Frimpong4, Scott JN McNabb2, Ernest Kenu1, Edwin Andrew Afari1, Ernest Konadu Asiedu1
1Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, Accra, Ghana, 2Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, USA, 3Ghana Health service, Ghana, 4African Field Epidemiology Network, Accra, Ghana
&Corresponding author
Florence Nzilanye Iddrisah, Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, Accra, Ghana, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, USA
Pertussis is a vaccine preventable disease (VPD) monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite a long-established Pertussis immunization system, the re-emergence of the disease in some countries stressed the need to have well-trained field epidemiologists at the forefront in the fight against these VPDs, especially during an outbreak. Practical, hands-on training is useful for clearer understanding of the principles and development of competencies relevant to outbreak investigation, which will enhance field practice; case method training using realistic public health scenarios helps trainees put into practice learned theory. As such, this case study was adopted from a real Pertussis outbreak investigation that was conducted by Ghana’s Field Epidemiology Training Program residents, together with the rapid response team members of Dormaa Municipal health directorate in August 2016. It was primarily designed for training novice public health practitioners in a facilitated classroom setting. Participants should be able to complete the exercises in approximately 3 hours.
General instructions: ideally, 1 to 2 instructors facilitate the case study for 8 to 20 students in a classroom or conference room. The instructor should direct participants to read a paragraph out loud, going around the room to give each participant a chance to read. When the participant reads a question, the instructor directs all participants to perform calculations, construct graphs, or engage in discussions. The instructor may split the class to play different roles or take different sides in answering a question. As a result, participants learn from each other, not just from the instructors. Specific instructor’s notes are included with each question in the instructor’s version of this case study.
Audience: residents in Frontline Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETP-Frontline), Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programs (FELTPs), and others who are interested in this topic.
Prerequisites: before using this case study, case study participants should have received lectures or other instruction in outbreak investigation.
Materials needed: laptop with Microsoft Excel or graph paper, flipchart or white board with markers.
Level of training and associated public health activity: Novice - Outbreak investigation
Time required: approximately 3 hours
Language: English
- Download the case study student guide (PDF - 1.01 MB)
- Request the case study facilitator guide.
The authors declare no competing interest.
We wish to acknowledge the support and contributions Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training programme (GFELTP) of the Faculty of the Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, for their assistance. The team is thankful to the Deputy Director, Public Health Brong Ahafo, Dr. O.K. Afreh and his team, the staff of the Municipal Health Directorate, especially the surveillance team, Dormaa, the paediatrician Dr. Adomah Fokuo and her able medical team, and Presbyterian Hospital Dormaa for their cooperation, support and active participation during the investigation.
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